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Three major trends in data and mobile use

Results

Data traffic globally is experiencing a meteoric rise. Mobile data traffic will grow at 66 per cent a year until 2017 and is expected to be 13 times today’s levels. Is the enterprise ready to exploit the opportunities that data and mobile provide?

No continent on earth is immune to global mobile data growth – even Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to experience an increase in mobile data traffic of nearly 50 per cent between 2012 and 20181.
What are the trends behind this meteoric rise?

A global data explosion

The emerging Asia Pacific markets, such as Thailand and Vietnam, are set to experience a 64 per cent growth in mobile data by 2018 – almost 20 per cent higher than more developed parts of the region2. Elsewhere, Latin America is expected to see the second most significant leap in mobile data, with usage predicted to double in the same time frame.

Global mobility

The growth in mobile data is largely due to the increase in mobile devices – smart phones, tablets, laptops and a myriad of other connected devices.

Last year the number of mobile devices overtook the number of people on earth – and in a year where the global population passed the 7 billion milestone, that’s a huge number of devices. By 2017, there will be an estimated 10billion mobile devices – 31 per cent more than the projected world population3.

Better connectivity, better content

Adoption of mobile devices in the enterprise will continue to grow as a new generation of workers strive to increase efficiency and effectiveness through mobile working. Currently, 75 per cent of business travellers take at least three mobile devices on trips abroad4. By 2017, 1 in every 5 tablets will be an enterprise device5.
While connected devices are a key driver of increased data use, the rise of 4G will play an important role. 81 per cent of users say 4G will improve productivity6. The rise of video will also drive increased data traffic, with two-thirds expected to be video-driven traffic by 20177.